This video shows a tsunami in Japan in 2011

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 24, 2020 at 12:00
2 min read
By AFP Indonesia

Footage has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Facebook, YouTube and TikTok alongside a claim that it shows flash floods in Indonesia's Sukabumi regency. The claim is false; the footage has circulated online since 2011 in a video about a tsunami hitting the city of Natori in Japan’s Miyagi prefecture in March that year.

The one-minute, 22-second video was posted here on Facebook on September 21, 2020. It has been viewed more than 123,000 times and shared over 5,500 times before being deleted.

The Indonesian-language post translates to English as: “Sukabumi in Curug region hit by flash floods…”

Screenshot of misleading post, taken on September 22, 2020

Flash floods struck Cicurug and Parungkuda districts in Sukabumi regency in the province of West Java on September 21, 2020, after heavy rainfalls caused the Cibuntu River to overflow, as reported by local media Liputan6.com here.

The video has also been viewed more than 157,000 times since it was shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here, here and here; on YouTube here; and on TikTok here.

The same video was also shared with a claim that it occurred in Bogor, a city in West Java, on Facebook here, where it received 71,000 views.

However, the claims are false.

Reverse image and keyword searches on Google found the same video was uploaded on YouTube here on August 8, 2011.

Translated from Japanese to English, the video’s title reads: “March 11 Tsunami seen from Yuriage Junior High School”.

The caption reads: “This is a photo taken by a friend and I uploaded what my friend filmed with his/her permission. This is a video of the tsunami that hit Yuriage, Natori City, Miyagi prefecture. I hope various people can see the truth at that time.”

Below is screenshot comparison between footage in the misleading post (L) and the YouTube video (R):

Screenshot comparison between footage in the misleading post (L) and the video on YouTube (R)

Yuriage, an area in the city of Natori, suffered devastating damage after a tsunami struck Japan’s Tohoku region on March 11, 2011, as reported by Fuji News Network and BBC.

The location of the Yuriage school building can be seen on Google Maps here.

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